Advanced Microsoft Visual Basic (Mps)
After all is said and done, more is said than done.
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It's all very well to live in an esoteric consulting world of process and structure, but how does one get started on a real-live project? At TMS, we feel that the best way to begin is to define a target process and structure for the organization and to evolve toward this off the back of a pilot, or, as mentioned above, a Pathfinder project. On balance, the Pathfinder approach is better than attempting to set up the new process and structure prior to the first project. And of course, it's essential to have the right people with the right skills.
Skill Requirements
Table 15-1 shows the skills that key personnel require to make a first Visual Basic 6 distributed project a success. This information should form the basis of individual training plans.
Table 15-1 Skills Required for a Successful Project
| Skill or Knowledge | Business Analysis | Development | Technical Services |
| Business knowledge and business analysis | High | Medium | Low |
| Project management | High | Low | Low |
| Database modeling | High | High | Medium |
| Help files, user documentation, and the like | High | Medium | Low |
| Awareness of component availability | Medium | High | High |
| Systems analysis | Low | High | Low |
| GUI design skills | Medium | High | Low |
| Visual Basic prototyping | Medium | High | Low |
| Distributed design | Medium | High | High |
| GUI testing | Medium | High | Medium |
| Visual Basic/VBA programming | Low | High | High |
| Diagnostics, logging, trace, error handling | Low | High | High |
| Windows operating system and the PC architecture, memory, and so on | Low | Medium | High |
| Connectivity, performance | Low | Medium | High |
| Networking | Low | Medium | High |
| Server operating system and database, DBA | Low | Medium | High |
| Security, back-out, recovery | Medium | Medium | High |
| Implementation, installation | Medium | Medium | High |
Infrastructure Requirements
As well as finding people who possess the necessary skills to work on your project, you need to put an appropriate infrastructure in place. These infrastructure requirements should be implemented in parallel with the development of the pilot project. Be sure to allow adequate time in the schedules for these extra tasks.
This is the minimalist list of infrastructure requirements that we recommend:
- Corporate Visual Basic 6 distributed architecture and strategy
- General application design standards
- Data design standards
- Distributed guidelines (such as connectivity method, use of stored procedures)
- GUI style guide
- Coding standards
- Distribution, installation, implementation, and upgrade guidelines
- Development environments (such as development, test, and production servers)
- Source control software and associated procedures
- Powerful, standardized developers' PCs fully configured with Visual Basic, Microsoft Access, relevant (and tested) custom controls, and a range of supporting utilities and tools
- Fully configured and tested server database with associated tools to add test data, stored procedures, and the like
- Fully implemented and tested workstation-to-server connectivity (should include network software, drivers, and so on)
- Education and training of those providing any of the above or filling technical roles